John Obi Mikel's name was almost a different one entirely. At the Under-17 World Championship in Finland in 2003, his jersey arrived with 'Mikel' on the back rather than 'Michael' — a printer's error the Nigerian FA had no time to fix before kick-off. He wore it, starred in the tournament, and decided to keep it. That small accident gave the world one of African football's most recognisable names.

A wonderkid on every scout's radar

The 16-year-old Mikel was an attacking, creative midfielder at the time — not yet the disciplined defensive player he would become at the highest level. His performances in Finland set off a scramble among Europe's biggest clubs. Agents descended on the team hotel, one arriving with a briefcase reportedly containing £50,000 in cash to lure him toward a Dutch club. Arsenal and Bayern Munich were among those monitoring his progress.

Manchester United moved first in any meaningful way. Mikel was invited to Carrington, where he trained alongside Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Diego Forlan, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, and Rio Ferdinand — always with the first team, never the academy. Sir Alex Ferguson, he recalls, would pair him with Keane in training specifically to shield him from Scholes's notoriously reckless challenges.